Month: July 2016

Have any of you tried this before? If you have, let me know and share your experience!

I’m all about space saving as well as being prepared and over the years I would say my ability to pack lightly yet be prepared for different situations has improved greatly. I have been on short-haul trips with just hand-luggage (10kg limit, although I have never gone above 5kg) and long-haul trips (22kg limit). The short-haul trips have lasted from as little as 6 days to 42 days, whilst my long trips have been around 90/95 days. Different lengths, different needs.

The previous day we had hiked the Derwent Water Circuit and so today we decided to head to Dodd Wood & Feel, a small fell in the Lake District only a few miles away from Keswick. The fell is part of the Skiddaw mountain range and the wood itself has 4 walking trails ranging from 1-3 miles, the 3 mile walk leading you to the Dodd summit. Every trail is marked clearly with coloured spots to help you follow the correct trail as at some points they over lap each other.

Heading to the summit, the trail takes you pass the Upper Osprey viewpoint (a lower viewpoint is available on another trail close to the car park), part of the Lake District Osprey Project which aims to ensure the continued success of breeding Ospreys in the area. The viewpoints can be accessed on the trails all year around but volunteers provide information, telescopes and web cam viewing between April and September, which we were very fortunate to participate in and witness some chicks in an Osprey nest – Exciting!

The trail is steep in places with hills but the track itself is in good condition yet the views are completely worth it, panoramic and on a clear day you can see for mles around and all around once you reach the summit. Whilst many sections of the trail are wooded, still bring enough water with you on hot days as once out in the open there is no protection from the sun. Also, keep an eye out for red squirrels as a feeding station is located at the viewpoints to attract these rare creatures!

After your hike, why not visit the pleasant ‘Old Sawmill Tearoom‘ located at the car park. A small, quaint tearoom with reasonable pricing and options to sit inside and out.

I have finally taken my travel map off the wall and updated the European section, the map last updated in January 2015. As a scratch-a-map, you have to scratch off the countries you have visited but this means that sometimes, you accidentally scratch out tiny countries you haven’t been to, through no fault of your own.

The countries I scratched off this time, are:

Germany (2015 & 2016)

Austria (2015)

Hungary (2015/16)

The Netherlands (2016)

Belguim (2016)

Countries I need to visit to make my travel map completely accurate (aka Scratched off by accident):